


The Tour of a Lifetime

by Meiri



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Baseball, F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 14:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14718173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meiri/pseuds/Meiri
Summary: Hermione ducks out of a tour of an old manor house, makes a new friend, and goes on the trip of a lifetime.





	The Tour of a Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt: Hermione/Harry, Muggle AU, time travel, crackfic.
> 
> Thanks to GaeilgeRua for the quick beta and title :)

Hermione Granger trailed along behind her parents, Phillipa and Grayson, as they toured a vast manor house in Wiltshire. She never much cared for traipsing through the ancestral homes of the upper crust, but it was something that her mum and gran had loved doing together, so she tried to hide her boredom. At least this time there were other people in their tour group, so she could discretely people watch instead of just staring at objets d'art and feigning interest in whatever information the housekeeper imparted about the family whose home they were invading.

There were two women about her mum's age, one with a kindly disposition and fiery hair. The other had a severe, pinched look about her. The young man with them referred to them as Mum and Aunt respectively, but Hermione had a terrible time imagining they could be sisters. They whispered to each other occasionally about this painting or that sculpture. 

Now, the young man with them was far more interesting, despite being rather quiet. He was a well dressed, put together sort until one noticed his hair, which looked as though he'd just rubbed a balloon on it. She could empathise with him. Her curls had been nearly impossible to manage, unless she grew her hair long enough to weigh their springiness down. 

But it was his eyes that truly captured her attention. Bright green, and expressive, Hermione found herself lost in emerald toned daydreams until her mother nudged her side. Dragging her gaze away to look at whatever antique her mother was sighing over, she felt her cheeks grow warm. She wondered whether she would find him looking at her, if she glanced his way again.

"This room here is infamous for all sorts of unusual occurrences," the housekeeper was saying as they stopped walking near a door along a narrow gallery of portraiture. As she opened the door to allow everyone to look in, she explained, "It was the favourite parlour of the Master's great aunt. She used it during every visit here. Although she was in residence at her Kent summer home when she passed away, in the presence of her children, her body vanished and reappeared here."

Hermione allowed everyone else to peer into the room before following the housekeeper to the end of the gallery and into another wing of the large manor. The airy parlour was disappointing in its mundaneness. The furniture was a blend of eras, unified by the colouring of the fabric and wood. 

There were various needlepoint works, halted in their progress, displayed as though the artist had simply set them down moments ago. A bonnet sat on a stand, ribbons and silk flowers scattered about the base. It looked like a set from one of the costume dramas her mum sometimes persuaded her into watching.

"Well, there's something odd," a masculine voice said. Hermione whirled around to find the young man looking at something small on a shelf.

"You startled me," she said, pressing her hand to her chest. "What have you found?"

"A Yoda figurine." He pointed to a the small green figure with giant ears wearing a robe. 

Hermione laughed. "Of all the things to find."

He reached out and poked the toy.

The shelving panel slid into the wall and to the left, revealing a dimly lit staircase.

She glanced down the stairs and then to the young man. "Shall we?"

"Why not, Miss…"

"Granger. You can call me Hermione, if you like," she told him as she entered the passage.

"I'm Harry."

The staircase ended in a laboratory that looked as if it belonged in an old sci-fi movie. Exposed light bulbs that must have come on when the ones in the stairway did revealed a strange looking apparatus in the middle of the room. All sorts of gauges and dials adorned the sides. The door to the front was wide open.

"Do you get the feeling we've found ourselves in a warehouse of old BBC props, or is it just me?"

Hermione laughed. "You know, I had a similar thought upstairs before we found this contraption."

Harry looked at the dials and gauges for a moment. "I'm not sure what any of these mean. I wonder what this thing does?"

"Probably nothing," Hermione told him as she looked at it. "It doesn't look like it's connected to any sort of power source."

"Oh well," Harry said with a shrug and pulled a small disposable camera from his jacket pocket. "It's still pretty cool. Fancy taking a few pictures before we go meet up with the group again?"

"Sure," she said as she pulled her digital camera out of her purse and slipped the short strap over her hand. "Want to start inside the machine?"

At his nod, they entered the strange box. The door swung shut behind them. A panel to their left lit up as the machine started whirring and shaking.

"What the--"

Hermione stumbled into Harry who wrapped his right arm around her shoulders. She heard the click of a camera shutter as she struggled to get her feet sorted.

Glancing over, she saw Harry had his camera pointed at the panel.

"Good idea. No one will believe this," she said as she turned her own camera on and pressed buttons to find her video setting.

Just as she started recording, the shaking and noise stopped. A digitized voice said, "One. Nine. Three. Two."

"That was weird."

"Let's get out of this thing."

They opened the door and found themselves on a roof. A short distance away they could see a large field. There were men in uniforms and one of them was pointing with his bat.

"Oh my God, that's Babe Ruth," Harry said. "This is Wrigley Field."

"What? Where are we?"

"We're at a famous baseball game. My dad brought me here a few years ago. He loves baseball. I saw a picture of this exact moment from October first, nineteen thirty-two."

Hermione looked over her shoulder at the strange metal box that brought them wherever they were. 

"You're saying that thing is a time machine?"

"Looks like. Now let's enjoy watching history happen."


End file.
